New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1887-02-01
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
FOUR NOVELS.


BRITTA A Shetland Romance by GEORGE TEMPLE
16mo PIP. 1885, Harper 4 Brothers'
16mo. Do. SIS. Philadelphia: J. B. Lppincott Co.
IN THE WRONG PARADISE and Other Stories so;,e by
ANDREW LANG 18mo, PIP. 255. Harper q bro'hers'
A MODERN TELEMACHUs. BY CHARLOTTE NJ.
YoSGE. 16mo, PIP. 2lS Harper Brothers
"Britta~ Ia a tale of the Shetland crotters 1t
has the drawback of being put in the form
of narrative by third person. who ssupposed 10
be tho minister Of of the islands. There ID not
much plot. A tyrannioal factor or merchant CON-
mits suicide under circumstances which Suggest
murder, and a crofter who had quarrelled with MN
is tried for the crime, and has narrow escape
kind which does not often happen IN actuai ,iie'
Some incidental light is thrown on the way Oh 'iio
of the peasants In the Shetland isles but no serious
study has been made of their conditions A''o
Qether the story. though not without Interest," 70
rather thin and thore Is not much art IN its
ment much of tho character drawing ocins 'iu'e'
The tendency TO introduce the "seamy side u
society INTO English novels appears TO DC growing
rather alarmingy. Improper ladies OF fash'on Jog
elbows with disreputabe men OF the worid. Inc
skceton in the closet which used to be Kept unaer
lock and key dscreetly is nowadays paradeo' al'er
the ancient Egyptian CUSTOM at the 1east' anu
even the present writer seems to think it necessary
REYNOLDS The lady who wrote That Other Per
son is apparently as harmless rs a dove, though
not perhaps as Wise as serpent, for she cannot tell
a commonplace love story without gratultously
dragging in liaison altogether discredltabie TO
the hero and rs unnecessary to the development
of the plot This hero is meant for an
cstimable young man, but he IL represented as
possessing about much moral sense as Loias
Claude Lautier, and the heroine, though sue
knows of his loose conduct and has reason to
suspect that at the time he was making not
love to her be was in afectionate correspondence
with his mistress consents to be his WIFE, ny a''er
marriage she should develop an almost insane
jealousy; why, having condoned so much. she
should suddenly refuse to condone anything Is one
of those mysteries which authors do.Dot seem able
always to clear up. But it is brought ont that this
ill-reyulated young woman really did not love
him when she married him. and while this fact
does not clash with the conception of her dervaDe
from her antecedents, it is quite out of accord with
the position which she takes subsequently, There
is q great deal of surpusage in the story which
could have been better told in half the space and
even then the ques ion would have arisen whether
il was worth telling at all.
Mr. Andrew Lang has so accustomed MS to brill
liant writing that the general dulDess of his new
stories is surprising and perplexng. That they are
dull however must, we fear, be admitted by nearly
all lat least on this side of the Atlantc) who read
them. The first tale, The End OF Phpacla Is
better conceived than executed. modern MIS- |
slonary rather of the Brother Stlggins variety, Is
wrecked on an island inhabited by remnant OF
the ancient Greeks who maintain the old civil |
cation and cults He tries to convert them ana |
they prepare TO sacrifice him. There is some humor
IN the story. and evident opportunity for much |
hon. 10 HAY aud
his gambols clumsy. In the Wrong Paradise Is
more defty written but after all comparatively |
little has been got out of the |
initial idea which should have been
full of suggestion. "A Cheap Niger has little
merit. being in fact mere sensatonalism. Mr.. |
Lang's natural VEN appears only III such stories
MS in Castle Perious' "A Duchess's Secret" and |
" The Great Gladstone Myth" All these tales haze
IN the magazines and they are not
Of character TO addmuch to the author reputation
"A Modern Ielemachus" is not a particularly |
happy title. Tie story told by Miss Yonge is an
intere sting and for the most part an hlstor-
icn one 1t is of the adventures OF the |
children of the COmte dc BOurke, an |
Irish Jacobitc naturalized in France. who in 17l9 |
was seat as q secret ambassador to Sweden. HIS
wife set out 70 Join him but was captnrei by an
Algerian pirate The prize was cast away before
reaching Algers, on a coast inhabited by VIII
Arabs The wife and mother was drowned. and the
children were saved and taken prisoners by the
savages, together with young Scotchman, who
WAS accompanying the party as secretary TO the
ambassador aud some servants. The eldest child
was wonderfully self-Doised little girl, |
who conducted herself ably among the |
Arabs as to win their admiration. The young |
Scotchman with the youngest Bourke boy manages
to get ashore n more hospitable part of the |
coast and forthwith sets himself to procure the de-
liyerance OF his late COMPANIONS The adventures
of all are described with much yivacity and IN
highly interesting manner. Some fiction Is woven
into the bare facts OF the original narrative but
the principal points are historical, and curious
and strongly illustrative bit of history the story
constitutes.